I know Ethan will be fine. I’m still worried about him, and I’m sure Kimball is too. For Ethan this is all an adventure, but the danger is real. I know that the time for me to reach to my brother is getting closer, and watching the translucent figure appearing and disappearing around just confirms that. I know it’s an astral projection securing the place, which means that Trajan’s caravan is getting closer. It doesn’t take much to guess what she is doing, moving up and down the planes, getting into the material plane to spy on us. I focus on her movements and make sure to make eye contact with her, to let her know I can see her.
The astral projections stops showing, but I see a falcon flying over us. I know that zoopaths make perfect watchers and even if I can’t confirm it, I’m pretty sure that the falcon is being controlled by one. All of those are clear signals that Trajan is near, so I extend my mind, searching for him. I’m aware that there are many warriors capable of noticing me, but I don’t really care. Not only have we already been seen by the advance party, but if the Emperor agrees to see me, then everyone will know about us soon.
Just as I expected, Trajan’s caravan was near, and it didn’t take long to identify his mind. ‘I need to talk to you,’ I sent the thought to his mind, expecting him to recognize me.
‘Kaiserin? Is that you?‘
‘Brother, I need to see you. If you can, come here,‘ I asked, adding an image of the place where I was waiting. I knew he would recognize the place, and I knew he wouldn’t keep me waiting.
‘I’ll see you soon, don’t move from that place.‘
Our conversations the last few times had been telepathic, so I wasn’t surprised he didn’t trust me to wait for him. But I needed to see him face to face one last time. I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell him about his destiny, but even knowing that my words wouldn’t change his future, I knew that there were still some ways for things to get worse, and I didn’t want to be the cause for more trouble for the Empire.
A group of five warriors started moving closer to us. I had set a fire circle around me while setting the place, it was meant to mark the area I was going to claim as my own. The only ones inside the circle, with me, were Kimball by my right, Ivan to my left, and Yoweri at my back, each one of them ready to fight for me. In another place, near our location, Agata, Fatima and Thalia were also waiting, I knew that if something happened, Fatima would let them know so they could move closer to us and help us.
“Identify yourself,” one of the warriors demanded.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble or hurt any of you, so I ask you, please, don’t cross the fire, or you will face consequences.”
“You are invading our territory, you are the one who needs to cooperate or face the consequences,” the same warrior said.
“You are Imperialists, and we are in Runner’s territory, so you are not the ones who can ask me to leave here.”
“This is the last time I will ask nicely, identify yourself.”
“You don’t need to know who I am, there’s only one person who needs to know, and he already does. Now, I will have to insist, don’t cross the fire, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You should be able to see you are at a disadvantage here, it’s five on three,” the one that had been talking, and acting as the leader, pointed out. As soon as he talked, I could identify the two that were able to see Yoweri, and that caused some conflicted feeling inside me. On one hand, I felt proud that Yoweri’s abilities were strong enough to fool the imperial guard, but on the other, I felt disappointed that the imperial guard could dismiss a threat like him so easily.
“Four against five,” one of the guards said, trying to be discreet, but failing. The fact that Kimball laughed at him, making things even worse.
“How are you expecting to stop us, if you can’t even see all of us?” I asked the first one, using a mocking tone.
“Enough! We have tried to resolve this without using force, but is obvious we won’t be able to resolve this with words,” the warrior made a signal to his companions and they started to move.
I didn’t need to move to know that Yoweri was turning around, covering my back, while Kimball and Ivan just turned slightly to cover my sides. The warrior that had been addressing me didn’t move, and was still facing me, while the other four moved to surround us. I wasn’t sure what their powers were, but I still believed that despite their numeric advantage, they still wouldn’t be able to defeat us.
As soon as they started moving, I grew the flames around us, making them hesitate. After making the fire grow, I moved my focus to create a psychic wall around us, a couple of them were still trying to move forward and were trapped against my wall and over the flames, that were looking for new things to consume and it didn’t take long for the fire to jump to its new victims. Another one was in trance, and I guessed it was the zoopath, but before I could act against him the warrior in front of me started a telepathic attack against me that I didn’t bother to try and stop, no, I let him in, and I was waiting for him with my best defense ready, and as soon as he was in, I opened the chest full of pain that had him running in no time. I noticed the zoopath on the ground, writhing in pain and I noticed Kimball holding something in his hands, and on the other side was the fifth warrior on his knees, coughing, with his hands over his stomach, so I supposed Ivan had taken care of him.
“I really don’t want to hurt you,” I repeated, “you just need to calm down.”
“The emperor is coming this way,” the zoopath said once he recovered a little.
I could see that the telepath was having some trouble getting over the pain I had caused him, but he was part of the imperial guard, and he wasn’t going to let something like pain stop him. Thanks to his double mind, he didn’t go into trance, but I could see from his expression that he was having a psychic talk, and he wasn’t liking what he was discussing.
Without a word, the warriors moved until they had all gathered in the same area, they were watching us, but weren’t attacking anymore. Just a few minutes later I could hear a vehicle approaching the place, but it took a while until we could actually see it. The group that had attacked us was doing a good job of keeping themselves under control, but I could feel they weren’t happy with the situation, and they were confused with what was going on.
Trajan got out of the vehicle and I watched as a general tried to convince him to stay inside, but was ignored by Trajan. The guards immediately went to their knees, showing respect to their Emperor, while still keeping an eye on us. Trajan looked around, until his eyes stopped on me?
“Did you have any trouble with them?”
“I have to give it to them, they are good, and at least a couple of them have a good future ahead of them, but none of them represented a problem to me, especially since I’m not alone.”
“I see that, I was hoping we could talk alone.”
“And we will,” I used my powers to move the fire around me, breaking the circle and forming a path for Trajan to reach me, opening three areas so Kimball, Yoweri and Ivan could walk out of the circle.
“Are you sure about this?” Kimball asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Everything will be fine,” I assured him. Trajan was watching Kimball, and even if he was wearing a helmet, I imagined that Trajan was able to recognize him, and the last thing I wanted was for them to be fighting each other, but Kimball walked out and Trajan did nothing, not even asking who he was.
As soon as Trajan was inside the circle, I killed the fire and instead erected stone walls around us. I also raised a seat in front of mine so he could sit and be more comfortable for our talk.
“I was surprised to hear you were here, and more that you were willing to see me.”
“You don’t know how sorry I am for the distance I have put between us. I knew that at first it was necessary for my own well being to stay away, but even when things changed, I stayed away. My place is no longer here, you are an excellent Emperor and you have done a superb job, even if some people don’t want to recognize that. If I had returned, I would have made things difficult for you, and that wasn’t something I could allow.”
“I always felt like I didn’t deserve this position, I didn’t earn it, I inherited it. Even now, I’m not sure who would win between us. Our relationship was always a little complicated, but I hope you know that I was always on your side. Now, what are you doing here? Why did you return?”
“I always thought I would have time, I promised that one day, when I was ready, I would come back. But time is running out and I realized the only time we have is the present. You must know how important you are to me, right? You know that my need to go away had nothing to do with you. You were always a good brother and a good supported.”
“I don’t know what all this means. Are you going to die? Or am I?”
“I would like to be able to answer that question, but I’m afraid I can’t give you the answers you want.”
“Then it will be me,” Trajan stared at me, trying to see if my expression would betray my thoughts. It didn’t, not even my thoughts betrayed what I was really thinking. “And there is nothing that can be done to avoid it, or we would be having a very different conversation.”
“Brother, I love you so much, and I really admire you for everything you have done, I really think you have been an amazing Emperor, I can’t imagine leaving the Empire in better hands than yours. Knowing you were in charge, allowed me to leave in peace.”
“Are you happy? Are you fine, wherever you are?” Even if we couldn’t see pass the walls I had erected around us, Trajan was looking in the direction Kimball had left.
“As with everything else, my life had some good and bad moments, but I’m doing what I want, and I have a good family, people who follow me, respects me and even loves me. I have enemies, that I have been able to keep under control, and followers that would give their lives for me.”
We spent the rest of the afternoon going over our lives. I told him as much as I could about my daughter and son, without giving him enough information for him to figure out where they were. I told him a little about the problems and issues I had faced, trying to keep it vague, but I could see his mind working overtime, trying to piece every clue I was giving him to find a picture of where I had been hiding.
Trajan told me about his own children, especially his firstborn, and heir, who he expected to take his place, faster than he expected. He also told me about his problems with some of the Rebel Clans, and how he had worked, indirectly, with Molpadia and Spike to neutralize those threats, he told me he knew some people, even some of his own advisers, weren’t happy for his decisions, but also that he was sure that his actions had saved thousands of lives, something I was glad to confirm for him.
I knew his death was the result of a failed coup, the work of a group of high officials, convinced that Trajan had gone soft and wasn’t capable of leading the Empire anymore. Those who dared question his methods and that would do anything to correct what they considered weakness, real or perceived. I knew that at the end Traja would prove to all of them his strength, and that he would crush his enemies, but that wouldn’t change the fact that at the end he was going to die as a consequence of the injuries sustained during that battle.
Despite all my training and my walks through the fog telling me there was nothing I could have done to save him, there was still a part of me that wanted to tell him all about what was going to happen, that wanted to find a way to save him. There were a lot of people who deserved to die, Trajan wasn’t one of them.
“At least will you tell me how much time I have left?” he asked as we both knew our time was coming to an end, something we had been trying to ignore, despite darkness descending over us, and me having to light a fire to get us some light, the starts in the sky not being enough.
“Trajan, I don’t know what to say. The only thing I can confirm is that this is the last time we are going to see each other.”
“Thank you for this unexpected visit. This is what I had been missing,” Trajan hugged me, something we could indulge in because we were out of sight, and because it was our last chance. “I would invite you to go with me to the Palace, but I know that if being there had been part of your plans, then you would have gone there and walked right in, not stop me in the middle of nowhere.”
“You are right, there still a chance I might do that sometime, but it won’t be today, and it won’t be something you will be able to witness. I’m sorry, brother, this is goodbye.”
I let the walls around us collapse and found my guards, and Trajan’s guards facing each other, both groups ready to fight at any provocation. I could see the rest of Trajan’s caravan waiting at a distance, watching us from afar. I could see a familiar face watching us, and I recognized Trajan’s son, and possibly the future Emperor.
Trajan made a signal to his men and they started moving back to the vehicles, some of them still looking my way, but following orders to leave us alone.
“How do you feel?” Kimball asked.
“Much better after talking to him. He knows what’s going to happen, he suspected immediately there was a reason behind my visit, but he is happy with his life works and is not afraid to go. He is a good person and he has been a good Emperor.”
“You would have done an equally amazing job if you have had the chance. You already proved that with your work in the Dominion. You followed a different path, but your work has been just as important.”
I watched as my brother went away, he turned around one last time to see me, before getting into the vehicle, and I heard his voice in my mind. ‘Never forget who you are, never forget how much I love you, and how much I respect you.‘
“I think it’s time to go back to our camp. We still have to wait for Ethan and see if he managed to finish his work or if he will have to try again.”
I knew that Ethan was going to do what he needed to do, but I also knew that not everyone was going to be receptive about it, that was the reason we have planned his visits in a way he would have two chances of meeting the clans, one on their way to the Reunion, and one on their way back to their clans. I was expecting that if someone was still undecided, they would be convinced once they had the chance to see and maybe speak about the mysterious clan with the others.
There was still a chance that Ethan would be able to fulfill his mission early and we could be able leave earlier. I knew that staying there wouldn’t help in any way, I had gotten what I wanted, I had seen my brother, and staying behind would only put me in a position where I could be discovered by other clans, or by other people who wouldn’t be so happy about my presence. I needed to take a step back and let the events that were about to happen just happen.
Kaiserin Novel 